Jan. 5, 2013

Written by

John Ferro

NEW CITY — Rockland County residents soon may be able to obtain free firearms cable safety locks under a measure being considered by the county Legislature.

The program was announced at a news conference Friday morning. The event also was marked by sharp criticism of The Journal News, which on Dec. 23 published the names and addresses of pistol-permit holders in Rockland and Westchester counties. The information was published in an interactive map on the newspaper’s website, LoHud.com, and accompanied a story about what information was and was not public about gun ownership.

Rockland legislators announced two other resolutions, one condemning the report and the other supporting efforts within the state Legislature to restrict access to the data.

The event was attended by a bipartisan group of Rockland legislators as well as local representatives of nearly every state political party, the county sheriff, the county clerk and a number of police chiefs.

It came one day after Putnam County leaders and state representatives gathered in Carmel to protest the report and to announce they would not comply with the newspaper’s request under the state’s Freedom of Information Law for the Putnam database of permit holders.

“We believe the law is clear that this is public information the residents of Rockland County are entitled to see,” Janet Hasson, president and publisher of The Journal News Media Group, said in a statement. “New York residents have the right to own a gun with a permit and they have a right to view public data.”

Nearly all of the controversy has surrounded the interactive map, which to date has had 600,688 visits on the Web and more than 1 million page views.

“Although The Journal News may have thought they were being well-intentioned, their actions have had obvious unintended consequences,” Rockland Legislator Frank Sparaco said. “The Journal News, in their ill-conceived attempt to protect us from our friends and neighbors and to use the horrible events of the Newtown massacre to push a political agenda, has totally backfired (by publishing the information).”

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Meanwhile, an assemblyman from Westchester County issued a statement Friday saying he would oppose any attempts to restrict access to pistol-permit databases.

“All parents should have the right to know whether their neighbor has a gun in the house before they let their child go over to play,” said Tom Abinanti, D-Greenburgh. “Contrary to gun owners’ assertions, there is no evidence that publicly identifying gun-permit holders increases the likelihood that their weapons will be stolen.”

Sparaco, a Republican, and Democratic Legislator Ilan Schoenberger announced the Rockland gun-safety measure as a follow-up to a program launched in 2000. That program dispensed free handgun trigger locks to county residents. They were joined by fellow legislators Aron Wieder and Toney Earl. Christopher Carey was unable to attend, but issued a statement in support.

The legislators said the cable safety locks provide added security since they can secure not just pistols, but shotguns and rifles as well. Rifles and shotguns can be purchased without a permit.

Rockland County Sheriff Louis Falco said his office has 1,600 cable locks. There are 16,998 permit holders in Rockland, a county of roughly 315,158 people, according to the U.S. census. Of those permits, 3,907 are current and the rest have had no activity for at least five years, according to the county’s database.

The safety-lock program would make as many as four available to each county household as long as supplies last. Individuals would need to provide proof of residence.

Public safety was also at the root of much of the outrage stemming from The Journal News report. Falco said some county correction officers have been approached by inmates who said “they know where they live.”

Wieder brought a check and a completed pistol-permit application to the news conference and presented it to County Clerk Paul Piperato.

“I have never owned a gun, but now I have no choice,” Wieder said. “I have been exposed as someone who does not have a gun, and I will do anything to protect my family.”

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Wieder called on The Journal News to remove the interactive map of permit holders from its website.

“If you don’t,” Wieder said of the newspaper, “I ask you that as soon as I get my license, please update the list with my name on it.”

Piperato also serves as president of the New York State Association of County Clerks. He said he never considered denying the newspaper’s open-records request for the Rockland database because the law requires him to release it.

Asked whether he regretted not withholding the database — as Putnam County Clerk Dennis Sant is doing – Piperato said, “You know, hindsight is a wonderful thing. I knew releasing the list, unfortunately, was infringing on a lot of law enforcement, and that was a large part of my concern — putting them in jeopardy. But you know what? I took an oath to abide by the law … and I did.”

The state Committee on Open Government has said the information is public. It’s stated as such under the penal law covering licensure, which was last amended by the state Legislature in 1994 and now reads “the name and address of any person to whom an application for any license has been granted shall be a public record.”

Irwin Davis, a 65-year-old resident of Bardonia, expressed support for the legislators’ actions.

“The Journal News has published the names of people who are law-abiding citizens, and I think it was totally wrong to do so,” said Davis, who is a pistol instructor and member of the Ramapough Sportsmen Association. “It endangers me and my family.”